rec.autos.simulators

Long Story Short (at least as short as I can make it!)-- While dealing
with a non-bootable system, visual examination indicates that it's
probably finally time for a new motherboard.  My Epox 8Kha+ is finally
showing signs of the dreaded leaky capacitors issue.  I guess that I've
been lucky so far, since I've been using it almost 5 years now.

Unfortunately, I am no longer up-to-date on the latest and greatest
computer hardware, so I thought that I'd ask you guys for
recommendations.  My most system-intensive games are probably GTR2, GTL
and the new Flight Simulator X.  My vidcard is fairly new - ATI
All-in-Wonder X800 - and I'd like to re-use it, along with the existing
RAM (2 sticks of PC3200 512Meg each,) if possible.  So, I'm looking for
a motherboard/CPU that would match up nicely with the videocard and give
me better overall system performance than my Athlon XP2600 has.  (Might
as well improve things, if I can....).   I'm running Windows XP Pro SP2,
if that matters.

My second major consideration is that I would REALLY like to avoid
having to re-install all of my software.  I've read in the past that
there's a way to change motherboards under WinXP, without having to
reinstall everything.  Is that really true, and if so, where can I find
the specific procedure to follow?

Any help with these issues would be greatly appreciated.  I'm probably
going to shop at Newegg, but if there's a better source, I'm open to
suggestions.

Thanks!

[snip]

Is that X800 an AGP model?  If you're willing to go with just
*slightly* less than latest and greatest (which is the Intel core2 duo
at the moment), you can get killer deals on AMD socket 939 systems.  Go
to anandtech hot deals - they're tracking lots of good deals.
I'm on my second AsRock Dual-SATA system now (got one for my Opteron
144 single-core that OC'd from 1.8 to 2.7Ghz, and one for my ***
Opty dual core 165 that's at 2.5Ghz).  DDR memory is also relatively
cheaper, and I don't think DDR2 shows much advantage in real-world
performance, at least on the AMD platform.
The nice thing about the AsRock is that it has both AGP and PCI-Express
slots - I went from a 6800 Ultra AGP to eVGA 7900 GTO PCIe (*killer*
deals on that card now as well - or you could go ATI X1900XT someday).
Note that there are better motherboards if you decide to go PCI Express
right away and want to do some serious overclocking - I'm running an
enthusiast beta BIOS on my *** rig to get the most out of it (I
voltmodded it as well, but it didn't seem to get much more out of the
CPU).
Newegg is awesome - I've had good service from thier sister company
Chiefvalue as well.  Just got some stuff from MWave with no hassles.
Another recommendation is Patriot memory - I have both 1gb and 2gb kits
- both work very well, with tight timings.
Just wanted to let you know ASAP while the deals are fresh.
You *can* go from one MB to another - no time to point you towards
details - I should be packing for vacation and instead ran an hour of
Monza in GTR2 :).  I ran the same XP install through 2 VIA motherboards
and now the AsRock - a bit of a pain, but it can be done.

(675core/715mem) has no sweat with GTR2 1600x1200 2xQ FSAA, 16x AF, 36
car field

HTH,
Kendt

Kendt,

Thanks for the info.  Yes -- my ATI X800 is an AGP card.  I should have
specified that in my original post.

If you want the latest and greatest, you'll want to look at changing to a
PCIe video card, AGP is practically dead at this point.
Intel has the Core2 duo, which is getting very good marks, and AMD has the
new  AM2 processor, which is supposed to be very good as well. While most
software, especially games, are not written specifically for dual core
processors yet, it is certainly the wave of the future, and does very well
for running multiple programs.

I would look at an Nvidia based motherboard, and look at either an Asus or
DFI, both of which are fairly popular.
I built a new system the first of this year, and mine is a Socket 939 Nforce
4 based motherboard, with an Athlon X2 4400+ chip. I used an MSI K8N Neo4
mb, but, have had some stability problems with it.

As far as not having to reinstall your programs, assuming you are simply
moving your existing hard drive or drives to the new mb, then yes, that is
not a problem. Just be sure, the first time you boot the system, boot with
your XP Pro SP2 cd in the drive, choose to boot from the cd when prompted,
and do a repair install. When it boots from the cd, the first prompt is for
either a new install or recovery console, choose the new install, then the
next prompt when show your existing XP install, and choose either to repair
it, or a new install, choose to repair the existing install.  This basically
is an in place upgrade.  It is very important, not to let the system boot
into windows the first time you boot it with the new mb.
 If your XP Pro is an oem cd, then that might cause you a problem moving to
a new mb.

Newegg is a great place to get the components, I have been ordering most all
my computer hardware from them for many years, and never had an issue.

Good luck,

--
Don Burnette

Hell BRH, you are in for what I bought.  Asrock Dual VSTA, core2-6400
(picked that one all beacuse I hear it overclocks really well, better on
other boards down the line, even with STOCK cooling...)   plus this board
will run your old ram now and your AGP card (same rason I bought this
motherboard, I had new 2 gigs of ram and geforce agp 7800gs).

Im pretty happy with it ATM, get 57-67 fps in the 25 car cup challenges with
moderate settings of course, starline I get no less than 29 fps and up from
there, from back of the fields.

Motherboard was only $75 newegg, think processor is only 225 or there
abouts.  later I will I I mean, might overclock, not that this board is good
at overclocking, but some have had OK results with slight clock up.

Im still settling in, I had to get new HD, have not cloned the dying one to
that new drive yet.  when I do, I will do a post with some benchmarks.
right now all I have on here is the 2 games, nr03 & GTL.

Just to clarify --  Is this the motherboard that you're talking about?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?item=N82E16813157097

If so, will this run my existing AthlonXP2600 CPU?  Some reviews say
it's a tight fit in the case.  Did you find that to be true?

Thanks!

Hey Plowboy,

I'm really interested in this Asrock Dual VSTA 939 motherboard, but I
have a couple of questions.  Sorry that I'm not well-informed on the
latest hardware, so please forgive my ignorance.

I'm considering an Athlon X2 4200+ CPU with this board.  Which CPU's are
generally faster -- Athlon X2, Athlon 64, Athlon Opteron or Athlon 64FX?
  And which of these are you running on this motherboard?

Finally, a question about RAM:  Can I re-use my existing RAM (2 sticks
of 512Meg PC3200 SDRAM) with this board?  If not, what do you recommend
wrt RAM?

Thanks!